As promised, I'm writing to tell you more about our recent mission trip to Anderson, SC. When we left on Sunday afternoon, we had a convoy. We had two vans and three cars full of food, tools and of course the team. Upon arrival at River Street Baptist Church, they were waiting on us, and everyone pitched in to unload; we scouted the place and then ate.
Every day we had a great breakfast and devotions, and workers were divided into work teams. We had lunch, more work, supper, VBS, snacks and got to know each other better as we played "SPOON". (A card game that can be aggressive...ask Karen Baker).
Several members of the team spent an hour on Monday and Wednesday at the nursing home next door playing Bingo and singing. A special thanks goes to our mime team for getting a song together at the last minute and performing for the residents of the home. According to my wife, you did a terrific job, and we are so proud of all of you!
Vacation Bible School went great! The average attendance was 67 (children & workers) and everyone had a great time. They loved the Saddle Ridge Ranch songs, and they learned a lot from the Bible stories. I have included an excerpt of an article from the River Street Baptist newsletter:
“We thank God for all his blessings on VBS this year and we want to thank everyone involved in making this a great VBS.
We thank Oak Grove Baptist Church for hosting our Saddle Ridge Ranch, it was the best VBS that we have had at River Street in a long time. They all worked hard planning and preparing everything for VBS. They worked hard on cleaning buildings and grounds.
They put a drop down ceiling in the Sunday School bldg., scraped and painted ceiling in the Fellowship Bldg., built a new handicap ramp. In all of years, we have never had a mission team to work so hard. God will truly bless this church for their wonderful ministry.
We want to thank Jim Evatt for coordinating everything with the Mission Team and all his emails and telephone calls. Jim purchased Cowboy Bibles and gave them to River Street, he picked up straw and all the decorations from Whitefield Baptist Church.
We thank Honea Path First Baptist for donating 66 Saddle Ridge Ranch T-shirts for children and workers.
We thank Geer Memorial Baptist Church – Easley – who loaned us the wagon and decorations for VBS and some Saddle Ridge Ranch books for the nursery and bookmarks.
We thank Whitefield Baptist Church for loaning us Saddle Ridge Ranch decorations.
We thank Pastor Doug Jones from Happy Trails Cowboy Church in Piedmont for bringing his horses and rodeo champions and for sharing his testimony with us.”
Begin praying now for the mission trip next year. We have information from Mountain Mission School in Grundy, VA. Pray that God will confirm that this is where He wants us to go. If you would like to participate, please see Patricia or me for an
information packet.
Serving Christ,
Gary